The Best Medicine
by PennyLane71
Summary: What happens when badass Rick Grimes gets sick? It's Nurse Michonne to the rescue! Brought on by a tumblr prompt. Fluffiness ahead.


**It started with a headache**. Rick Grimes had woken up at the same time as usual to do the same job as usual. Being a constable within the Alexandria Safe Zone didn't require a great deal of effort from either him or Michonne. In fact, the situation with Pete and the recent walker breach had been the closest they'd been to any sort of danger or disturbance within the community.

With security now tightened and the Pete situation…handled, the town had quieted down considerably. Rick felt the throbbing in his head and immediately lay back down. He had to go to work, though he wasn't sure what for. There wasn't much for him to do, but this was his contribution and a little headache wasn't going to keep from it.

Rick managed to pull himself up, got out of bed and headed downstairs.

Michonne was home for the day and noticed Rick's lethargy.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Just tired. Head hurts a little."

His explanation did little to satisfy her concerns. Rick watched as Michonne approached him. He closed his eyes and felt her hands on his face, checking for a fever. He'd never liked being fussed over but he couldn't help but enjoy Michonne's close proximity and gentle touch. It was nice and he was a little disappointed when she stopped.

"You're feeling kind of warm there," Michonne assessed with a nod towards his face.

"Tired and achy?" she asked. Rick nodded, rolling his head on his shoulders, willing to the pain to stop.

" Maybe you should stay home today, Rick." Her arms crossed, Michonne observed him. It was obvious he was sick. Unfortunately, he was also ridiculously stubborn.

As expected, Rick brushed off her concerns with a wave of his hand. "I probably just need more sleep. I'm fine. Really."

He went off to work, determined to push through whatever was going on with his body.

Within a few hours, however, it became apparent that the "little headache" was only a sign of what was to come.

Rick felt horrible. His sinuses throbbed, his chest felt heavy, and he was dragging with exhaustion.

_Shit, _he grumbled. Who'd have thought after all he'd been through lately, that a bad case of the sniffles would take him down? Flashbacks to the Prison flu epidemic popped up in his mind but he pushed them back. It wasn't that bad. It wouldn't kill him, no matter how much he felt like he was already dying. Begrudgingly, he left work a bit early, trudging home and barely making it inside.

Michonne was feeding Judith at the counter and perked up when he came in. Her smile turned to a frown as she handed off the baby to Carl and walked over to Rick.

"You look like shit," she remarked, taking in his pale complexion and glassy eyes.

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Rick managed to quip before he was overcome by a coughing fit.

Michonne checked his forehead and cheeks again. He was burning up.

"You've got a fever, Rick."

"Yeah, I know."

"You should've stayed home today." Michonne sighed.

"I know that too." Rick admitted.

She'd been right. She was _always_ right.

"Carl, you got your sister for a minute? We need to get your dad to bed."

The boy continued feeding Judith and nodded. "Yep, we're good."

"Thanks bud. Okay, Rick, upstairs with you."

If he'd had any intention of arguing with Michonne, the chills he was plagued with had put those thoughts to rest. His whole body hurt.

Michonne did her best to drag Rick up to his room, shutting the door behind them. Rick managed to meander to his bed, falling into a crumpled heap on top of the covers.

Michonne headed over and got to work on him. "Don't get comfortable just yet," she warned. "We need to get you undressed first."

Undressed? Michonne taking his clothes off... Sick or not, Rick was a man and Michonne was a woman. A very attractive woman…a hot woman…beautiful… Grimes literally had to shake his head in an attempt clear his thoughts of Michonne and possible nakedness.

She must have noticed the brightness of his cheeks and his now averted gaze.

"No worries, I'm not going to take advantage of a sick man, Rick. I promise to behave." The flirty tone in her voice wasn't just in his head, was it?

Her hands were on him, untying his tie and slowly pulling it off. Next his shirt was unbuttoned and removed. Finally, she reached his pants.

"You should probably take care of this part," Michonne said quietly, acting almost shy.

"I don't know, you seem to be doing a pretty good job so far…" Now he was flirting back. What the hell was going on?

Michonne rolled her eyes and gave in. She undid his belt and pants, pushing them past his hips and onto the floor. He stood frozen, unsure what to do next.

"Rick?"

"…Yeah?" he answered weakly.

"You wanna help me out here?" Michonne motioned for Rick to actually lift his legs out of his pant legs. He did so, embarrassed that she had such an effect on him. Now clad only in boxers, Michonne helped Rick into bed. She tucked him in and checked his forehead once more. "Still pretty hot..."

"Thanks…"

Michonne raised an eyebrow in Rick's general direction. "You're awful frisky when you're sick. Who knew..."

He didn't know if he'd get away with it, but Rick intended to blame his fever should this conversation ever come up again. Finally he was in bed and properly settled. Michonne continued to feel his face, moving the back of her hand softly against his cheek. Rick couldn't help but feel that she didn't really need to keep touching him but he was glad she was. It felt good and Rick had no desire for her stop.

"I'm going to check on the kids," Michonne told him. "You get some sleep and I'll look in on you in a bit."

She took her hand away and Rick's cheek suddenly felt cold. He had to admit it, he already missed the contact. As she shut off the lights and left the room, Rick couldn't help think that he could get use to Michonne fussing over him. With her as his nurse, maybe being sick wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
